Container for dispensing determinable amounts of a substance



H. SCHNEIDER 3,232,495 CONTAINER FOR DISPENSING DETERMINABLE AMOUNTS OF A SUBSTANCE Feb. 1, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 16, 1964 Feb. 1, 1966 H. SCHNEIDER 3,232,495

CONTAINER FOR DISPENSING DETERMINABLE AMOUNTS OF A SUBSTANCE Filed March 16, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 i i H- 9 fa i 5a Q m I 0 l 7a ']'1 Z 70a 1 i V i Feb. 1, 1966 SCHNElDER 3,232,495

CONTAINER FOR DISPENSING DETERMINABLE AMOUNTS OF A SUBSTANCE Filed March 16, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent 3,232,495 CONTAINER FOR DISPENSING DETERMINABLE AMOUNTS OF A SUBSTANCE Helnmt Schneider, Jakob-Stetian-Str. 14, Main: (Rhine), Germany Filed Mar. 16, 1964, Ser. No. 352,169 Claims priority, application Germany, Mar. 21, 1963,

Sch 32,984

8 Claims. (Cl. 222-209) The present invention relates to bottle-like containers made of elastic materials, and more particularly to plastic containers for liquids and pastes. The invention also is concerned with related methods.

Containers which accommodate cleaning agents for shoes, leather and varnish, for automobiles, for the home and so forth may desirably be provided with an appropriately simple, inexpensive and conveniently operable operating device which is safe and dependable for uniformly dispensing constant amounts of their contents. However, known dosing devices are of relatively complicated structure, are expensive to produce and are not absol-utely and completely safe and dependable for operation over prolonged periods of time, especially in connection with pasty charges which are disposed to dry.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a container having a dosing device, which can be produced simply and cheaply and which can be used with comparatively cheap mass-consumption articles and wherein the force or energy required for operating the same is minimized, the invention being characterized in that the distribution of material taking place during blow molding is utilized in such a manner that only comparatively thin wall portions of the container have to be deformed.

Containers according to the invention are characterized in that they are'composed of a larger main portion and a vertical smaller dosing portion which extends parallel to the main portion and which has an approximately flatoval overall cross-section and which is formed of two walls extending perpendicularly to the plane of division of the blow mold, the thickness of said walls decreasing from said plane of division to the outside. This distribution of material is preferably effected during blow molding which is thereby utilized in particularly advantageous manner.

- During the blow molding of bottles, a particularly strong wall section forms at those places at which the thermoplastic flexible tubing, after the closing of the blow mold, engages the wall of the mold or is located in the immediate vicinity of said wall before the compressed 'air flows into the mold. The further the thermoplastic tubing is removed from the wall of the blow mold prior to blowing, themore pronounced will be the expansion of the material during the subsequent blowing. The wall of the container will be correspondingly t-hin at said places. In. containers according to the invention, the wall thickness of the dosing portion is greatest in the plane of division of the blow mold, i.e., in the vertical plane of symmetry of the container if the latter is symmetrical; therein the wall thickness becomes the thinner to the outside, the greater the distance from said plane. Said dosing portion is thinnest at the two points of the oval. Upon lateral compression of the closing portion, the latter is, therefore, most strongly deformed at said places, whereas the stronger wall portions yield by comparatively lesser amounts. The largest portion of the internal volume of the dosing member is displaced by bringing together the two spaced walls of the dosing portion or member. A

3,232,495 Patented Feb. 1, 1966 limitation of said reduction in volume will result from the fact that these two walls of the dosing portion engage each other. On the other hand, the main portion or member of the container, especially the surface facing the dosing portion, is so shaped or developed that there are no substantial deformations of the main portion of the container when the two walls of the dosing portion are pressed against each other. This insures an ever-constant reduction of the entire interior of the container when pressure is exerted on its dosing portion, i.e., it insures truly accurate dosing. For this purpose, the wall surface of the main portion of the container facing the dosing portion may be provided with some kind of stifiening elements, for example, preferably with horizontally extending stiffening ribs, pads, corrugations or the like.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the interior of the dosing portion may be connected, only at its upper end, to the interior of the main portion, and the dosing ortion may be connected, in the remaining region, to the main portion by way of a web located in the plane of division. According to another embodiment of the invention, on the other hand, the interior of the dosing portion is additionally connected at its lower end, above the bottom of the container, to the interior of the main portion. In a particularly advantageous embodiment a space is provided between the main portion and the dosing portion permitting insertion of the fingers of one hand, so that said dosing portion can be gripped like a handle and can then be compressed, this substantially facilitating use of the container. e

In order 'to prevent an exchange of material and airsolely due to the efie'ct of gravity, the dischargeopening may be provided with different kinds of devices, depend-' ing on the charge. Such devices may include, for example, fine screens, plates or discs with fine holes, one or' more fine small tubes, and so forth.

, Several embodiments of the present inven-tioreare illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

- FIG. 1 is a side view of a container provided in accord- FIG. 8 is a side view of a third embodiment of the invention with the dosing portion being developed in the manner of a handle; 1

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IXIX of FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is a side View on reduced scale showing the use of the container of FIGS. 8 and 9.

The container according to FIGS. 1 to 4 is composed of a comparatively large main portion or member 1 and a closing portion 2 having a substantially smaller volume. The discharge opening 3 accommodates a device D of known type which is adapted to the charge in the container and which, with the discharge opening pointing downwardly, prevents an exchange of air and material due solely to the effect of gravity.

FIG. 3 clearly shows the almost pointed oval crosssection of the dosing portion 2 and also shows that the thickness of the wall of portion 2 becomes smaller and v smaller starting from the median. plane of symmetry, which corresponds to the plane of division of the blow mold, towards the outside and that it is thinnest at the two points of the oval.

The cross-sections in FIGS. 2 and 4 show that the dosing portion 2 is connected, at its top and bottom, to the interior of the main portion 1 of the container. Between these two junctions, the dosing portion 2 is connected to the main portion 1 by a web 5', which extends between the inner wall surface 6 of the dosing portion 2 and the wall surface 7 of the main portion 1 that faces the dosing portion. The other wall surface 8 of the dosing portion 2 is provided with a vertical stiffening pad or rib 9 located in the plane of division of the mold.

The wall 7 of the main portion 1 also comprises stittening pads or ribs 10 designed to eliminate, as much as possible, a deformation of said wall when the dosing portion 2 is compressed. The pads 10 extend horizontally in this embodiment.

Owing to the distribution of the Wall 6 resulting from the blow molding process, the deformation of the container is practically limited to points 4 of the dosing portion 2. When the wall surfaces 6 and Sare pressed against each other, which can be effected with very little expenditure of energy, an accurately dosed amount of the charge will be dispensed every time.

In the second embodiment of the invention according to FIGS. 5 to 7, the same reference numerals with the sufiix a are used for the same members as in the first embodiment. Said second embodiment dilfers from the first embodiment in that the dosing portion 2a is connected, at its upper end only, to the interior of the main portion 1a, but'is closed at the bottom, so that the connecting web 5a extends downwardly between the two walls 7a and 8a practically to the bottom of the container. The Wall 6a of the dosing portion 2a has no stiffening pad. The stifiening pads 10a of the main portion 1a of the container, on the other hand, extendnot only, as is the case in the first embodiment, over the wall surface 7a facing the dosing portion 221, but around the entire container, in order to stiffen the entire extent thereof. A comparison of FIGS. 6' and 7,'which shows the dosing portion 2a in a position of rest, on the one hand,'and in compressed position, on the other hand, clearly demonstrates the mode of operation of the invention.

In theembodiment of FIGS. 8 to 10, the same members have again been'given the same reference numerals butwith the suflix b. The dosing portion 21) is developed like a handle .in that a space 11 is provided between the dosing portion 2b and the main portion 1b.

The fingers of a hand 12 shown in FIG. 10 can beput through saidspace, and the dosing portion 25 of the containercan thereby be gripped. At the desired moment, the charge can be made to issue from the container by com-pressing said dosing portion. In this case, just as in the first embodiment according to FIGS; 1 m4, the dos ing portion 2b is connected to the interior of the main portion 15 both at the top and at the bottom. It is understood thatthis embodiment'may be provided with identical or similar stiifening pads as those provided in the ,fi'rst two embodiments.

The invention is also concerned with the preferred method of making the above indicated structures and with respect thereto the method will generally comprise blow molding a plastic container having a dosing portion attached thereto such that the plastic in the dosing portion is decreased'in thickness inversely to the distance from the'plane of symmetry of the mold and of the plastic container.

One method of effecting the above-noted result is to space the plastic from the'mold in the vicinity of the dosing portion and deform the dosing portion transversely of theafor'esaid plane to decrease the thickness of the Walls of the dosing portion which will be so formed as to define for'the dosing portion a cross-section of gener'ally flattened oval configuration:

There will now be obvious to those skilled in the art many modifications and variations of the above struc tures. These modifications and variations Will not, however, depart from the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A container comprising a hollow main portion, a hollow dosing portion connected to said main portion, said portions having communicating interiors, at least one of said portions defining a discharge opening wherefrom' a substance in said container can be discharged, said main portion being larger than said dosing portion, having a substantially rigid wall which is not deformed by pressure and having a plane of symmetry in common therewith, and means in said opening to prevent the discharge of said substance due to gravity, said dosing portion comprising two walls generally perpendicular to said plane and of a thickness which decreases away from said plane, said walls being connected to define for said dosing portion a generally flattened cross-section which facilitates collapsing the dosing portion under pressure to force determinable amounts of said substance from said container.

2'. A container as claimed in claim 1 comprising a web extending between and connecting said portions at said plane of symmetry.

3. A container as claimed in claim 1 wherein said dosing portion includes ribs in the Walls thereof.

4. A container as claimed in claim 1 wherein said container has a top and a bottom and said dosing portion is connected to said main portion at the top thereof.

5. A container as claimed in claim 1 wherein said container has a top and a bottom and said dosing portion is connected to said main portion at the top and bottom thereof.

6. A container as claimed in claim 1 wherein said portions cooperatively define an exterior opening within which can be accommodated the fingers'of a hand, so that the dosing portion forms a handle for said container.

7'. A container comprising a hollow, substantially rigid main portion, a hollow dosing portion connected to said main portion, said portions having communicating interiors, at least one of said portions defining a discharge opening wherefrom a substance in said container can be discharged, said main portion being larger than said dosing portion and having a plane of symmetry in common therewith, and means in said opening to prevent the:

discharge 'of said substance due to gravity, said dosing portion comprising two walls of a thickness which decreases away from said'plane, said walls being flexibly connected to define for said dosing portion a generally" plane passing through both said portions, said portions having communicating interiors, at least one of said portions defining a discharge opening wherefrom said substance in said container'can be discharged, and means in said opening'to prevent the discharge or said substance due to gravity; said main'portion having a larger volume than said dosing portion and having a wall which is sub stantially' rigid so as not to be appreciably deformed by pressure applied manually to said container; and said dosing portion having twowalls which are generally perpendicular to said common plane and together defining a generally flattened cross-sectionfor said dosing portion, said walls being of such a thickness that they are substantially undeformed by said manual pressure, and two thin- Walled'fiexible connecting wall portions which join together said two Walls of the dosing portion so as to facilitate collapsing of said dosing portion under said pressure so as to dispense said determinable amounts'of said substance.

(References on following page) 5 6 References Cited by the Examiner 3,029,001 4/ 1962 Blish 222207 UNITED STATES PA S 3,127,058 3/1964 Sutter 222209 2/1943 Chambers 222 209 X 3,159,697 12/ 1964 Toccl 264-94 2/ 1957 Richerod 26494 6/1961 Murray 103*149 5 LOUIS J. DEMBO, Przmary Exammer. 6/ 1961 Moro-Lin 222207 CHARLES R. CARTER, Examiner. 

1. A CONTAINER COMPRISING A HOLLOW MAIN PORTION, A HOLLOW DOSING PORTION CONNECTED TO SAID MAIN PORTION, SAID PORTIONS HAVING COMMUNICATING INTERIORS, AT LEAST ONE OF SAID PORTIONS DEFINING A DISCHARGE OPENING WHEREFROM A SUBSTANCE IN SAID CONTAINER CAN BE DISCHARGED, SAID MAIN PORTION BEING LARGER THAN SAID DOSING PORTION, HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY RIGID WALL WHICH IS NOT DEFORMED BY PRESSURE AND HAVING A PLANE OF SYMMETRY IN COMMON THEREWITH, AND MEANS IN SAID OPENING TO PREVENT THE DISCHARGE OF SAID SUBSTANCE DUE TO GRAVITY, SAID DOSING PORTION COMPRISING TWO WALLS GENERALLY PERPENDICULAR TO SAID PLANE AND OF A THICKNESS WHICH DECREASES AWAY FROM SAID PLANE, SAID WALLS BEING CONNECTED TO DEFINE FOR SAID DOSING PORTION A GENERALLY FLATTENED CROSS-SECTION WHICH FACILITATES COLLAPSING THE DOSING PORTION UNDER PRESSURE TO FORCE DETERMINABLE AMOUNTS OF SAID SUBSTANCE FROM SAID CONTAINER. 